Ontario Reign: Three takeaways from game one loss

Goal Breakdown

First period:

None

Second period:

ONT: Nate Thompson (1), ASST: Cole Krygier (1), Martin Chromiak (1)

COL: Charles Hudon (1), ASST: Sam Malinski (1), Cedric Pare (1)

ONT: Tyrell Goulbourne (1), ASST: TJ Tynan (1), Jacob Moverare (1)

Third period: 

COL: PP Cedric Pare (1), ASST: Sam Malinski (1), Callahan Burke (1)

Overtime:

COL: Gustav Rydahl (1), ASST: None

Stats

Goals:

ONT: 2

COL: 3

Shots: 

ONT: 32

COL: 21

Power-plays: 

ONT: 0/4

COL: 1/1

– Colorado leads the best-of-three series 1-0

Here are the three takeaways from the game one loss:

Goals from unlikely sources

While the top players didn’t put the puck in the net, the Ontario Reign got contributions from unlikely sources. Nate Thompson, the 38-year-old veteran opened the scoring by putting home a rebound by Eagles netminder Justus Annunen at 1:57 in the middle frame.

The Eagles would tie less than five minutes later off a Sam Malinski shot from the blue line that got re-directed in by Charles Hudon, the leading scorer for the Eagles in the regular season. Tyrell Goulbourne scored 4:33 later to give the Reign another one-goal lead when TJ Tynan found him cutting in the slot.

It’s great to see the Reign get goals from their depth players, but their top guys will have to find ways to score 5-on-5 as Thompson and Goulbourne did. After all, their season is on the line heading into game two.

Losing the special teams battle

If there was one area the Reign had the advantage over the Eagles it was the special teams. When the game was played at 5-on-5 and two minutes of 4-on-4, the Reign played well. They had a good start, limited their turnovers, and ended the first period tied at zero in a tough building to play in. However, the special teams battle ended up being costly for the Reign. In four power-play attempts, the Reign went 0-for-4 and allowed a power-play goal with one second on it. Overall, the Reign went 0-for-5 on special teams. The special teams were a big factor in the Regn’s series with the Eagles last year and it was in game one yesterday. They will have to take advantage of their opportunities in game two to avoid a repeat of game one.

A game of breaks

In hockey, there are breaks that go your way and some that go against you. Unfortunately for the Reign last night they had a few that went against them. On Colorado’s second goal, Cedric Pare’s shot went off a Reign stick that floated over the right shoulder of Cal Petersen. Moments before the overtime winner for the Eagles, Jordan Spence’s shot rang off the post and the puck ended up in the Reign net as Gustav Rydahl beat Cal Petersen with a clean shot top corner. There are games you get the breaks and games you don’t. You just have to move on to game two.

UP NEXT: The Ontario Reign will look to stave off elimination Friday night in game two. The game starts at 6:05 pm PT and can be seen on AHLTV.